The Global Addiction and Human Rights: Insatiable Consumerism, Neoliberalism, and Harm Reduction

For the past several decades, the market ideology commonly known as neoliberalism has glorified insatiable consumerism as a natural human tendency under conditions of freedom. Yet various commentators predict that the current global economic slump will promote the "end of consumerism" and a "new age of frugality." We contend that these proclamations are premature and largely untenable. To genuinely break from the rampant market culture that has contributed to the depletion of critical natural resources and human rights abuses throughout the world requires more than simply a few behavioral adjustments associated with spending less. We make the point that insatiable consumption has become a global addiction whose treatment mandates a paradigmatic shift that breaks completely from deep-seated values, habits, and structures associated with neoliberal capitalism.